OUR GARDEN JOURNAL
|
|
BEGINNING OUR FALL PLANTING
Who can think of a fall and winter garden when the weather is searing hot?? We\'ll have more heat to come soon. So what better time to plan and design our fall garden while we are indoors keeping cool! As we harvest the bounty from this summer our thoughts often turn to the next growing season when we have more selections and far less insect damage.
We can be thinking about our cool season veggies like broccoli, onions, cabbages, carrots, radishes, a wide variety of lettuces, beets, cauliflower, collards, chard, spinach peas, brussels sprouts. What a great garden we\'ll have during the cold winter months.
Planting time for those cool season crops starts about mid-September and into October. Planning our crops and preparing the soil begins now.
Right now we are saving the seeds from our warm season crops of Heirloom vegetables and fruits for next years crops. We don\'t have to buy them again and can pass them down to our kids and for generations to come. Saving our seed will become vital as time goes on and more people will need food. Seeds will become a great source for barter.
During World War 2 people grew \'Victory Gardens". Today they are called "Survival Gardens" as more people become out of work. Some of the best books from those who\'ve walked this path before us are the many volumes of "Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression" By Rita Van Amber. These can be found on amazon.com and any good bookseller.
These stories come from people who have lived through those hard times on farms in the Dust Bowl, and cities where unemployment was vast with no jobs to be found. They lived through what we are going through now.
It is said "The war of the Great Depression was won in America\'s kitchens as people took the bounty from their gardens, and as they all shared with their neighbors. The women made simple yet healthful and nutritious meals from scratch with no preservatives, harmful chemicals, just basic wholesome foods.
There is no reason not to grow our food even if we are only sprouting greens in our kitchen to have fresh greens so important to good health and staying healthy. The following web site tells us all how to do this very refreshing and rewarding growing -
The best place to buy Heirloom seeds is Botanical Interests -
http://roadrunnergardenclubs.com/hgc
click onto their icon on the left. You\'ll receive wonderful seeds, beautifully painted seed packets with plenty of planting information and the seed history when you cut the packet on 3 sides and open it up. Inside the packet is a great wealth of information about that seed.
When you purchase your seed through Botanical Interests through this web site a portion of your purchase contributes funds to provide supplies for our school gardens and giving to help our community!
Remember to build up your soil with lot\'s of good organic materials, compost and organic fertilizer (Miracle-Gro is not organic!) The leavings from our summer garden is good to add to the soil to feed it.
We need to be sure we are keeping the soil moist, especially in our heat of summer. A thick layer of mulch helps.
It\'s always important to build good soil well ahead of planting time. Our fall garden soil is best when starting to prepare the soil now. This guarantees we\'ll have lots of nutrient rich, healthy soil for our seedlings and seeds.
GOOD GROWING TO YOU.
|
|
|
